Lesson 5

I think the main points to the chapter was the important involvement of law in PR practice. Before any execution of plans of PR practitioners, the legal system must be consulted to verify the plans' content. Whether it infringes any copyright or any of the other 5 Acts listed on page 90 in the textbook.

When a company is stuck in a legal battle, the role of the PR is to minimise the harm made on the reputation of the company. They do help in controlling the damage of proceedings. It is even possible that the work done by PR practitioners can sway the final result of legal proceedings but sometimes, the judges and jury are able to resist such pre-trial publicity (eg. New South Wales juries).

PR practitioners must be alerted that legal practices are also part of their job.

On to ethics, it is sometimes contradicting to see PR slogans on products that are harmful to human. Practitioners must be wary of the need to moderate their plans according to the law and also the status of the client.

For a fast food chain to be promoting their food as the healthiest might be a little over the top. If a PR practitioner for McD portrays a healthy image of the chain, many health freaks would charge to the HQ and question McD's ethics. This would also mean trouble for the PR team.

The pointers given on page 114 of the course book would help serve as a gauge for PR when producing an excellent plan for organisations.

The points of identifying the organisation's cause and being truthful to consumers are what I thought to be the most important clues to writing a PR plan.